Happy St. Patrick's Day to
all our Irish friends! And we made a few last year during our
'Fiddling Around' trip. We are off to
a St. Patrick's Day musical evening tonight. (We worked out my Darian is
1/4 Irish! And cute with it!).

Very pleased to say we have
had another log submitted for the competition for the log Trophy! The
Steering group can decide!

Heard back from Pierre
trying to sort an auto pilot for his Barbican, he is now considering a wind
vane... Suggested that with the problems he may have attaching it
to the quadrant maybe a belt drive electric pilot with a small add on
electronic wind vane, anyone had any experience of these?

At last the wild and wet
weather seems to have cleared the UK, almost. Promise of warmer and
calmer weather for the week ahead. If my back feels any better may start
on the boat, at the moment being very careful!

I know I normally change the
colours of the text each entry, but for today it just has to be green again.

Top of the morning to yer!

John

Thursday 14th March 2019.

New
'Passage Log Trophy'!

We have a new Passage Log
Trophy. To be awarded annually for logs submitted to the Steering Group
in the previous season and awarded at the next springs Annual Meeting.
If the winner is able to attend the meeting they can take the trophy home for
the year and add their name to the brass plate that is soon to be affixed to
it. They will also get a small engraved plaque to keep.

This is in addition to the
Barry Sturrock Seamanship Award. Some one could end up winning both of
course! We have one log in so far... (I am not counting mine!!).

Had an enquire re the
Eventide 'Minthami'. The enquirer stated she was unusual in that she was
built 27ft long? Mmm, not that unusual as mine is also 27ft and I have
seen all lengths from 23 to 30 plus foot long! Found reference to her in
1993, but nothing since? Anyone know where she is? May well have
changed her name of course and as yet we have no sail number...

Think we have had the answer
to the auto pilot problem on the Barbican. Has to be a belt drive wheel
mounted unit to get the benefit of the mechanical advantage, thanks to Chris
for pointing this out! Suggested that Pierre look for one for a larger
vessel though, to make sure it can cope in a seaway!

Went to my boat yesterday,
but only to pat it's transom. I seem to have put my back out! This
injury put me out of a job I loved nearly 30 years ago, got fixed about 18
years back and allowed me to play for years, but has come back to bite me on
the bum! Hoping I can get better in the next week or two or I shall not
be shelling out the exorbitant amount needed to keep 'Fiddler's Green' in the
Marina. She will stay secure in her barn till I'm fit. And it was
all going so well!

You never know what is round
the corner, so grab it with both hands and enjoy, whilst you can!

John

Tuesday 12th March 2019.

The
internet is 30 today!

The
late Barry Sturrock, the designer of this website, was one of the pioneers.
The first version of this site was up and running in 1992, the first year
websites were able to exist! The Eventide site and the Saving Old
Seagulls websites were in the first batch of websites to be ever published!
(They are apparently saved on a server in a mountain cavern somewhere in
America!) Think they both had six pages! Boy look at us now! Far
cry from the early days. So pleased Barry spent time to teach me how to edit
these pages.

Just
sold a pair of oars from the pages, donation to the EOG to help keep these
pages going!

Could
not even imagine selling via the internet back in 1992, it was still 'Exchange
and Mart' then!

John

Website
coordinator...

Monday 11th March 2019.

Happy
birthday to Eccles, my daughter and crew!

Had an
interesting question in from Pierre in Belgium. Is it possible to fit an
auto pilot to the quadrant of his Barbican. A hydraulic one maybe?
Never had to tackle that so directed him to the forum to leave a query there,
someone may have an idea of how or to fit. ( I have a simple Tiller
Pilot on my Eventide...). He sent some pics but as a pdf file, so about
to ask if he can send as normal jpg files to make it easy to publish on here.

And
here they are!

Now any ideas on how Pierre can fit a strong auto pilot?

Hope
your boats are safe after the last blow, sounds like the next one coming
tomorrow and Wednesday may be even stronger...

John

Thursday 7th March 2019.

It has been very quiet here
on the email this last week, still not heard from many that they are to attend
the Annual Meeting??? Even started sending messages to the EOG myself to
check the mail could get through!

One good bit of news is our
Fund Manager Brian has agreed to carry on, as he has now got an assistant, to
check his figures!

Snail mail brought an
interesting package from Sue Lemoignan. It was two sets of Eventide 26
drawings sent out by Yachting Monthly in 1965, both with the same sail number
on a postcard... E 977. They were her fathers and as far as she knows he
never built the boat. Unless anyone knows different. Certainly E977 does
not appear on any records the Database Manager has. Trying to work out why two
sets, and wondered if he contacted them for a second set having mislaid the
first??

One thing I learnt was that
the light 1200lb keel on the E26 was modified before the 1972 redrawing of the
plans, did not know that. Our up to date and fully corrected and
modified drawings have all the latest modifications on them, but their history
has tended to get a little lost...

Interestingly in the
paperwork was a note from a dear friend of mine, the Late Ray Waterman, he was
Y.M.'s official technical advisor as he had built his own Eventide, 'Watermania'.
He was also my night school instructor at my first navigation classes in 1973!

In addition in the bundle
was a sheet we had never seen before, of all the timber needed to build an
Eventide 26, with prices. Total cost of timber in 1965..... go on
guess....

You can add a zero to it
today. We will add this sheet to the DVD of drawings for interests sake.

Wild wet and windy for the
last few days here, gale 8 today. March in like a Lion, out....

We will see.

John

Friday 1st March 2019.

St. David's Day

We have a few daffodils out,
but in some places near here they have been out a couple of weeks. however
today the sun sulked and the leaden skies were back to normal for this time of
year...

Just removed another boat
from our 'For Sale 'page, though this one did not sell through our pages, but
through a broker, the 40ft Junk rigged 'Emma-Fay' belonged to EOG friends
Roger and Kathy, they are now back on 'terra firma' and sorting out another
run down farm on the side of a mountain somewhere in Spain, growing olives and
walnuts again I suspect.

Picked up my fenders from
the marina to clean them, but I discovered when I checked them they had all
been deliberately punctured.!!! The grinning harbourmaster gave them back to
me and said I would not be putting them back, now I know why the guy was
grinning. An underhand trick. Don't you just love people like this, when we
have had so many friendly staff at Bradwell over the years it is no wonder
there is a lot of 'grumbling' about this idiot.

Sure he will get his
comeuppance. They normally do.

Just organising my fitting
out, off to remove the rudder tomorrow, I need to replace the lower tuphnol
bearing, will have to have Wheatabix for breakfast, that rudder is heavy!

John

Thursday 28th February 2019.

Great
meal yesterday, shame you were not there! Four of us had a very
pleasant evening!

The
next gathering will be the Sunday 31st March for the Annual Meeting. 12.30 for
lunch at Bradwell marina bar. Hope to see as many members there as can
make it.

We are
proposing to alter the format of the Annual Meeting and need you to comment
and vote, it is suggested we hold it on line on the forum, in a separate
'members only' section. This will be open to 'Friends' as well for comments,
but of course 'Friends' do not have a vote. Come to Bradwell to have your say.

I have
amassed a large collection of Maurice Griffiths books, I am offering a choice
of book, free, to the first 10 boat owners, 'Members' or 'Friends'
attending. One per couple or boat.

Heard
from Bede that the Eventide 'Nawazi' is on EBay, starting price of £500 and a
'Buy it now' of £3500. See it has apparently a new wooden mast and new
sails, but the motive power is just a 5hp outboard....? Ashore in Millbrook,
near Torpoint, Plymouth way. At the right price, if there if there is no
rot, could be a nice project for fitting a nice 12-15hp diesel...

Search
for '26ft Eventide' using our EBay search page.

The
glorious weather of the past few days has gone for now, an amazing 21 degrees
yesterday, high as summer temperatures! Even got all my grass mowed, in
February, unheard of. Today we are promised rain, which is as it should be
this time of year. Will water in the 1000 snowdrops I managed to get
planted in the new Spinney too. As they were, 'in the green' took some
planting! Should be a good display next year.

Off to
the marina shortly, seems the staff have been busy removing everyone's pontoon
fenders for some reason, off to collect mine to clean them before refitting.
I will be reminding them they have not fitted the safety ladders they should
have....

Just a
thought, do you know how to clean fenders?? Told someone this the other day,
he did not know, so thought I'd share it with all....

Take
just a pint of white spirit and add a teaspoon of acetone. Shake
to mix, then apply with a nylon pot scourer and elbow grease. Keep shaking
between applications as it separates. Cleans most mess off easily, heavy
oil fouling may take two tries. Then apply a coat of vinyl car bumper
cleaner/polish, they come up like new!

Reminds
me the mainsail cover needs to go in the washing machine! Quick whilst
the boss is out shopping! 'Easy care 30' does the trick!

The
season approaches,

John

Monday 25th February 2019.

Did anyone see the 'Saving
Lives at Sea' program last week? It was the filmed account of the rescue of
James from 'Ivory Gull', the Lone Gull II owned at the time by him and
his friend Clive and wife Sally.

James and crew were involved
in an very unfortunate collision with a large gaffer, that put its bowsprit
right through their cockpit and in doing so severed James's foot from his
leg!!!! Thanks to the quick thinking and expertise of his shipmate
Clive, who stopped him bleeding to death, and the cool efficiency of Sally,
who helmed the boat, the life boat was able to board, assist saving his foot
and follow them to the Brixham lifeboat jetty, and onwards to hospital. To see
James a year later, looking so well, was a great end to the story. See
it on Catch up TV, on the BBC, well worth watching!

We had a couple of pictures
in from the Netherlands yesterday, of the stretched steel WD on our gallery
and the 'featured boat' page. Then she was called 'Beaujte', renamed
'Goosander' and in new ownership she is being cared for by Sjors. Good
to be able to update the Gallery.

A little reminder to use our
free EBay page.
See the link on our Home page. It is that time of the
year when we may be buying the new water filter element or some engine parts
for that annual service. Do use the EBay page, every time something is
bought using it, a few pence from the seller is filtered off to the EOG and
helps keep the site running. Just change the search words from 'Maurice
Griffiths' to whatever you are looking for. Does not cost you a penny
but helps keep us afloat.

14 degrees outside and
getting warmer, hope we do not get a real cold snap before Spring is sprung!
Flowers will not like it and boatyards are beginning to buzz!.

Going to meet in Maldon on
Wednesday, earlier than normal, 1800, if you want to join us phone 01621
778859.

John

Thursday 21st February
2019.

And still it is warm, and
getting warmer!

Was able to give some advice
to a GH owner re attacking soft timber in his deck. 'Be ruthless' was
the advice!

Had an interesting mail in
regarding 'Thalia', one of our Riptide designs. Sadly she seems to have
fallen on hard times recently and is in need of TLC. Hoping a member is
going to be able to step in and save her. Rot can gallop through one of
our boats so quickly if left.

Went and picked up more bits
from Eric for a member, the list of bits available is shrinking.

Not sure where we are
heading next Wednesday for a meal and get together as yet, will let you know
nearer the date.

John

Tuesday 19th February
2019.

Still amazingly warm for the
time of year, over 15 degrees in the garden today and they were talking about much
higher temperatures inland, fitting out has started!

Already had an enquiry for a
can or two of that award winning EU45 antifouling.

A few
more items have been 'claimed' from that list of boat bits I posted for friend
Eric. Don't miss out. Though I have heard that the Dutch
cylinder of gas is only worth the gas inside it, as they will not take
them back with the date gone, how true that is I do not know. Info from Chris
in the Netherlands so should be correct. The two Camping Gaz bottles have sold
though! And one of the Calor bottles.

Had a great mail in from
Dick Durham yesterday, as a result of an enquiry from Tim one of our WW reps.
Dick is currently the owner of the M.G. Classic, 'Wendy May', the
same class as 'Olive May', however he is apparently in the midst of selling to
a friend. She is to be based at the Island Yacht club in the future.

Dick has sent in a raft of
pictures that I will be adding to the gallery shortly. Hoping he is also going
to enrol!

Dick was of course M.G.'s
biographer! Hope you have a copy of the book! If not attend the
Annual Meeting on 31st March, there will be copies up for grabs!

Had a very nice mail in
offering an old set of drawings to us, wanting to find out more, so far found
they are from 1965.

Spent a little time
designing a new CD/DVD cover for the Golden Hind Drawings yesterday, so will
be sending copies to the Woodworking colleges in the UK and the Maritime
museum at Greenwich, to ensure these drawings are never lost to the boating
public.

Also our Fund Manager has a
copy as a back up.

Job of Fund Manager still
going begging???????????

John

Saturday 16th February
2019.

Yesterday we could have been
forgiven for believing spring was here. with 15 degrees and wall to wall
sunshine it has fooled the bees and the butterflies here, despite the frost in
the morning. Hopefully it will not be long before there is activity in the
boatyards!

Welcome to yet another new
member, Nigel is joining us, as a 'Friend' for starters, but he was the owner
of the Eventide 'Kandy', a boat I remember from the heady days of 20 boat
turnouts to the meet at Bradwell. Says he regrets selling her and going
to GRP, now looking for an Eventide again! How many times do I hear
that! Hope you find your 'Dream Ship' Nigel.

Another Plea for a new Fund
Manager, (Treasurer, if you like..). We need one before the meeting at
the end of next March, if possible.

Also looking for a couple of
suitable trophies to use for a log competition and for the Annual Bradwell
Meet. I have been scouring antique shops etc for suitable 'pots'.

Sadly the Bradwell Meet,
wooden shield trophy donated by our 'Friends' Tony and Sally, has
'disappeared' along with the old assoc. and the other silverware. Shame they
could not do the honest thing and pass them to the actual owners for continued
use. They have minimal value, as all are heavily engraved, even the cup
and plate that were real silver... have scrap value only. Wonder if they
will ever see the light of day again?

Is there a scrap of honesty
left there?

I am off to Bradwell later
with more adverts printed out from our Bits for Sale
page. Get in quick if there is something there for you!

As the skies grey, memories
of the sunshine of yesterday are just that, memories.

John

Tuesday February 12th
2019.

Sadly we have to announce
the imminent retirement of our Fund Manager, Brian. He is also
'swallowing the anchor'.

So a plea for someone to
step into Brian's shoes. Brian has been our Fund Manager from day one,
an ex Justice of the Peace and good with figures. Though to be fair our
accounts do not add up to much, income from donations and outgoing is just the
expense of keeping the computer and the website going. Most years a very
simple set of accounts has covered it. See the accounts pages...

We have a club account at
Lloyds, so access to Lloyds may help, but today it can be done remotely on
line. We have a PayPal account to accept donations, that is all done on
line too.

Just
back at base after a 10 day run around, taking in Devon and
Warwickshire.

Nearly
got snowed in at Stonehenge and then had to detour north 30 miles or more
through rural Somerset, to get to south Devon, with 5 inches of snow, on tiny
back roads, it was exciting at times. Two hour journey took nearer four
hours! Then I managed to bring back a nasty throat infection that has laid me
out for a couple of days.

Good to
meet Bede at Amesbury, he bought a couple of bits advertised on the
Bits For Sale page... handy he worked nearby
and was able to meet me.

See the
Levanter 'Caillin' has changed hands, or at least we welcome new members
Martin and Debbie who are the new owners. I will be responding with the
welcome letter shortly. I will remove the advert on our pages for Caillin only
after getting in touch with Ron and Paula.

Reminder that our Annual Meeting is at the end of March...

Members Annual Meeting

Sunday 31st March,

Bradwell Marina Bar.

12.30hrs for lunch, meeting 1400.

Come along to Bradwell to meet fellow
members, first drink for all members attending on me, plus for the first
ten members, to arrive, pick a book to take away from the MG library.
Members and Associate Members welcome, come and have your say. Full Members
have a vote remember! But Associate Members' or 'Friends' can always have a
say!

John

Wednesday 30th January
2019.

The snow came as forecast,
but only a sprinkle, not causing any problems fortunately.

Edited the
Bits For Sale page as already some of the parts I
posted on there two days ago, have sold. Get in quick!

No other news as yet, back
soon!

John

Tuesday 29th January 2010.

We enjoyed a very good
Chinese meal last night, with friends, shame you were not there!

Today watching the weather
forecasts as there is snow predicted, at the moment 7 degrees outside and the
sun is shining? but it is clouding over and suspect we will get it tonight,
check those covers.

I have been busy on the site
this afternoon, a chap here in our village i have known for 20 years, who used
to own the MG. boat Banjo, has swallowed the anchor. He approached me to
ask my advice about selling all the kit off in his garage! I have
already put a flyer up in the marina but today listed all the stuff, so far
dragged out on our 'Bits For Sale' page.
There is a lot there! Also seen a 40 year old hand held MLR GPS and some other
navigation kit, an old non working hand held VHF and loads more yet to sort.
I will try to get some of the items working before I post them. Sadly
already consigned some kit to the bin!

Lesson here, if kit becomes
redundant, sell it right away, because a year down the road it may not be
worth selling, sadly.

James Peet who bought that
rarity the GRP WildDuck is looking for a 5hp Stuart Turner to fit in it.
I can hear you saying just what I told him, 'Why the heck do you want an
obsolete petrol motor, fit a tiny diesel'. But it appears he is
convinced it will be the best motor for him??? Having had a couple and
switched to a lighter diesel after the last one I strongly disagree, but if
anyone has an ancient Stuart 5 out there contact us and we will pass your info
on!

On a high note another
enrolment!

Welcome to David Lambert in
Devon, he is the proud new owner of the Waterwitch 'Sugar' and sails the
Dart.! Hope to be down there shortly David! Welcome letter on its
way later.

Also yet to add some Golden
Hind and Eventide pics to the gallery...

Off to throw another log on
the fire,

John

Wednesday 23rd January
2019.

For a change we are meeting
for a Chinese meal in Maldon, on a Monday, not our usual last Wednesday of the
month, got 4 takers so far, any one interested phone me on 01621 778859.

Last night was supposed to
be the coldest night of the year, and in some parts of the North it probably
was. Down here in the soft south east our pond never even froze. Though
tonight the outside thermometer, as I type, reads minus 0.2 and that is at
roof height... Frost covering the ground here and it is only just gone
2300hrs. Winter is here.

Welcome to even more new
members, amazing how many are coming in.

Welcome to Tom with the
Eventide 24 'Evenstar', he has sent pics, see above, I will be adding them to
the gallery. Tom's boat was called 'Barrie2' years back but neither
names come up on any of our records, so again another new, previously unknown
Eventide to add to the books. Tom sails from the Swale, so maybe we will cross
wakes!

Another enrolment is really
just a change of address, from Gweek Quay in Cornwall to an address in London,
but Shannon's steel WW was last hear of crossing Biscay on her way to warmer
climes. I have asked Shannon where she is now.... safely moored for the
winter in Spain or Portugal I suspect...

Getting a few things sorted
with the Steering Group for the Annual Meeting at the moment.

Hoping we will have a
reasonable turn out in March...

John

Sunday 20th January 2019.

I had a surprise in the post
the other day, from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.

Some readers may recall I
bought another one of those personal EPIRB's to equip my crew on my trip. I
had noted that the registration procedure was slow so it was a good thing I bought
it early. Happily of course we had no call to activate it, nor the other
one we carry, but had we, I now wonder if they would have known who we were?

The letter from the agency
was the confirmation of the registry with the little stickers to be attached
to the 'finder'. I had registered the EPIRB on the 19th of March 2018,
it has taken them 10 months nearly to sort it all out! They did
apologise in their letter, but a warning here to others.

If you are contemplating a
long trip and want to add an EPIRB to your safety kit, do it a year in
advance! (Like that is going to happen!)... some safety agency!

We have had a response to my
request re buying overseas.. Mark Urry of GH fame has kindly sent the
following in:-

When I built my second GH, the RCD was just coming in and the RYA advised home
builders like me to apply to HMRC for a VAT paid certificate. I did so and
sent a dossier about 2” thick with all my VAT receipts. What I got was a
letter saying they would not issue a VAT Paid certificate but that it did
appear that VAT had been mostly paid, although their letter should not be
taken as evidence that it had?? HMRC’s answers to the FAQ’s in the RYA advice
now clearly states that they will not issue a VAT Paid certificate. It also
goes on to state:

“The only conclusive proof that is acceptable to HMRC that a vessel is VAT paid
is the original (or copy) paperwork proving that VAT was paid (either at the
time of purchase, importation or in the case of a home built boat, when the
materials were purchased)”.

They also add that, even with a professionally built boat a single “final”
receipt is often not issued and that a significant amount of paperwork will be
generated showing VAT paid and all the invoices showing VAT paid should be
retained and passed on to the new owner.

“D1. When purchasing a new vessel, payments are generally made in stages and the
final price is often not clear until the vessel, with all its extras, is finally
delivered. A significant amount of paperwork is generated. What should the 1st
owner be expecting from the builder in order to satisfy UK Customs that VAT has
been paid on the purchase and to ensure that the owner thereafter has conclusive
documentation to prove this for the lifetime of the vessel?

All documents produced during the purchase process which itemise VAT will be
part of the proof that VAT has been paid on the purchase. The series of invoices
showing that the purchase was made in several stages, and that VAT was paid at
each stage, should be retained. Although there is no requirement for the
invoices to be “receipted” to show that payment was received, any statement
showing monies paid will support the series of invoices and should also be
retained. In the event that the vessel is later sold, the complete set of
documents should be passed to the new owner, or as a minimum copies of them.

D4. What paperwork should be retained if the vessel was built by the current
owner? In respect of home-built vessels HMRC recommends that the owner use
the VAT invoices from major components of the vessel, for example the hull, the
engine etc. to demonstrate that VAT has been paid.”

Essentially HMRC says that you probably will not have a single VAT receipt, even
for a new vessel, so you should keep all of the major VAT invoices for stages,
major components and extras, and pass it all on to the new owner to provide to
any EU customs authority, if challenged. That seems to me to apply to all
vessels built after VAT was introduced and that new build, second hand, part
built, home built or bought through a broker, all need the same type of
evidence, for the life of the vessel.

I can add that I obtained a
VAT paid certification back in 1994 when the Tax office had a special office in
Folkestone just for VAT and boats. I submitted all my receipts and my
boat building book, with all the notes, invoices, ideas etc, which I got back
stamped on most pages by the HMRC as 'seen' and with a proper 'VAT paid certificate' to
prove I had paid VAT. (Carried on board with ships papers!). Sadly
they closed the office after a year and directed any later enquiries to 'their
local tax office', those who tried met a brick wall. Local Tax offices do not
know much about boats! They do not make it easy do they.

So with any older boats, the
former owner should have applied for and got proof. Make sure they did!

I was on the RYA Cruising
committee when those charming people in Brussels tried to make home builders
comply with their overbearing regulations made for, or rather,
against all boat builders, I won that 5 year concession, (you had to keep the
boat for 5 years after launching before you could sell, something most home
builders have no problem with, selling would be like cutting off a limb!), so we could just
build our boats to the standard we wanted. ( I chose the Sail Training
Association standards!) Today only the big boat builder names seem to
survive, they had the extra £5.k per boat it cost to be able to afford
certification.
I notice that most of the small historic British yards were beaten into
submission....

Wonder what MG would have
made of all this bureaucracy? Seems everything today is so complex, no
wonder no one can sort out our departure from the bureaucracy machine in
Brussels!

To end on a high note we
have had another two enrolments.

Welcome to Barry in Eire,
looking at a Levanter... the one on our pages we wonder?

And welcome to Roland in New
Zealand, strangely also having a Levanter on his wish list, plus a Waterwitch!
I will be responding to them later.

Off to add some pics and
info to various pages now!

John

Thursday 17th January
2019.

Members Annual Meeting

Sunday 31st March,

Bradwell Marina Bar.

12.30hrs for lunch, meeting 1400.

Come along to Bradwell to meet fellow
members, first drink for all members attending on me, plus for the first
ten to arrive, pick a book to take away from the MG library.
Members and Associate Members welcome, come and have your say. Full Members
have a vote remember! But Associate Members' or 'Friends' can always have a
say!

John

Tuesday 15th January 2019.

Had a plea in from a lady to
try and find her father's old Senior, called 'Kipper'!?! Wonder how it
got that name and was it painted yellow...?

A day or two later she came
back and informed us that sadly the boat had actually fallen apart through
lack of care years before but she was not told, as it may have upset her....
She is now looking for one to buy in memory of her old dad!

Arranged to meet one of our
members beginning of next month as I drive through Wiltshire, he has bought
one of the used sails I have here. Always good to meet members.

Had an interesting mail in
from another member, thinking of buying a boat overseas, how does one go about
it. I could see a lot of possible problems. Surveyors, who to get,
certification rules and VAT paid certificate at the top of that list. You do
not want to sail it back and get a 20% tax liability.

Has anyone any experience in
this who could write a few words of advice for anyone going through
this?

Welcome to new members.
Welcome to Caroline in the channel Isles looking to buy a GH. No,
not the same person as was buying overseas... Hope to hear she has been
successful shortly.

We now have all or most of
the GH drawings and with some extras too, thanks to Lucy, which reminds me I
owe her a CD with them on! Will sort that soon.

Seeing the heavy snow in
parts of the continent maybe we will be in line for that shortly, if so an
excuse to stay indoors for a bit and do some EOG housework....

Lastly just heard from Ed
with the GH 'Moondancer'. Ed is back in the Gambia after leaving the
boat there for 8 months. She has fared well and apart from using a lot
of WD40 to free a few things off all is good. (Though his Seagull needs a few
spares!).

Ed is sorting her out for
more adventures! Hope to hear where and when they will be going and as before
report on them here!

Another one of my Seagull
customers organises a festival on the Thames, he sent this in case anyone was
interested in coming along, by boat.

No not the 70's
trousers, the red fiery things we used to carry... I always carried two
boxes of flares. A large waterproof one with over a dozen assorted
explosive devices, rockets pinpoint red and smokes. Before I set off on
the second leg of my round UK trip I took off the large box full, leaving just
a much smaller waterproof box with 2 rockets 2 pin point reds and 2 smokes.
(Oh and there was a selection in the life raft flare pack too).

I did the Pains Wessex flare course many years ago
so I was able to dismantle the
rockets and make them safe. I use the old hand held pinpoint reds to
light the occasional bonfire, safely. But the smokes cannot be set
off, as they would cover all the surrounding fields with orange dust! I will be gently breaking
open the old smokes and dumping them in a bucket of water to soak, think that
is about the best way of destroying them. (This is what I have to do with the
propellant for the rockets, the red flare part can be burnt in an
incinerator...)

Sadly no longer will either
chandlers or the Coastguard take these back, to dispose of them, and they
wonder why sometimes they are let off by some at inopportune moments, causing
emergency call outs.

How do you dispose of old
flares? Do you carry any??

From now, apart from the
ones inside the life raft, I no longer carry pyrotechnics, instead I have two
hand held battery operated red flares, they are ever so bright and last 5 hours on one set of
batteries and then you can simply replace batteries. Easy to test and safe to
carry, has to be the way forward.

And for long distance I
carry two EPIRB's, small enough for crew an myself to carry them in our
pockets. (I also have an older 'location beacon' stored in the 'Panic Bag').

I no longer even carry a
handheld white 'Wake up' flare, close to hand, at night, instead I have a fully
waterproof, robust, rechargeable lamp that is incredibly bright and lasts 4
hours!!

Has anyone else gone down
this route?

John

Thursday 10th January
2019.

Just about getting used to
the year change... takes a while.

Had a few mails in during
the past week, a couple of 'enquiries; regarding CD's of the drawings, but
neither have come back to enrol, yet.

One enrolment in is from
Marcus with the Barbican 'Solitude'. He sails the Solent area.
Interestingly his boat is one of the few that were purchased as hulls and
fitted out by their owners and the first owner apparently was a Mr Beavis....
Marcus also says he is i possession of all the drawings and hopefully these
can be soon be added to the folio of designs available to owners, thanks
Marcus.

Sold a sail off the
'Bits For Sale ' page, hoping to deliver it to the
buyer at the end of the month. Must remove it from the page.... done...

Tony with the Junior in
Ireland has found some more pics, yet to be added. will keep me busy one
evening...

Had an interesting mail
conversation with Tim our WW rep, his elderly 'Mini Seacourse' failed and he
was researching for a replacement. He has opted for a Simrad. Good
choice. But like me he has chosen one for a larger sized boat.
Mine now is an elderly Navico 5000 Tiller pilot. Suit up to 34ft.

Same
company different name now. (Modern replacement the Simrad TP32, at
nearly £600!!! ) My £60.00 EBay find replaced the 28 year old Navico 5500 that
gave up on my round UK trip .. I was lucky, it is like new!)

I also have a Simrad one, a
Tiller pilot 10, as a reserve, says it is good for a 32ft boat but it is really not man enough for an Eventide
26, except in flat calm. (OK 27ft, but do not let on to the
berthing officers!). Suspect I will be selling that soon.

Often wonder if the makers
of some of the kit sold have ever been out in anything other than a flat calm
to test the things they sell.

I have been waiting on a
response from Practical Boat Owner to my second follow up mail after they
studiously ignored me. Though I got the automated response telling me
they had got the mails I never heard another word. Cancelled my
subscription yesterday, anyone interested in 50 years of PBO's mostly in
binders.. they are on the Bits for Sale page!

(I am
told I am out of touch and everyone wants to know about racing and super
yachts these days, really?? Not me thanks.) Nor, by the feedback,
do a lot of others....

Copies of Classic Boat
arrived here today as a thankyou for my assistance creating the pages in their
January edition...
Can see a new subscription in the pipeline!

I have still to add the
updates to Mat's pages re Bethem, and some other pics around the site too,
more hours in a day needed. Or an assistant? Any offers?

Still looking for a positive
link for the Springtide and Sea Rovers, but now think there must be enough
circumstantial evidence to link them more formally with us, something for the
Annual Meeting. Booked for 31st March!!

Talking of which, I have not
as yet picked a date with Bradwell marina bar, but hoping late March, snow
permitting. As before, I dangle a carrot for members, a copy of one of
the pile of MG books from my collection to the first 10 owners/families
attending. Many different titles now! First come first served, plus a
drink on me at the bar for all attending! How many more carrots do you need!
Hope to have a good
turn out this year, to the only organisation supporting our designs!

We have
an interesting proposal to put forward to the members regarding an on line
Annual Meeting too.

Picked up my mainsail cover
from the sail makers the other day, it s sat on the front seat of my van,
reminding me every time I get in it, that it needs washing, ('Easycare 30!).
Not the weather for it at the moment, cold and damp here. But having said that
we have spring bulbs out, bushes with flowers and catkins on the hazel, daft
weather....

Time to sign off, called to
dinner! Dare I stay up here 2 minutes longer!

John

Wednesday 2nd January
2019.

I have now obtained a copy
of Classic Boat and have the article scanned, see below:-

Click to enlarge large
the pages
enough to read easily! Great picture of 'Glasstide' with John Stevens
our Database Manager at the helm.

Quite a good write up but
Steffan has made a few understandable errors. (Apart from him
invented a post in the EOG and promoted me to it!)

'Borer Bee' somehow sounds
less exotic than his version, 'Bora Bee?'! The keen eyes will spot a few
more too, the latest Eventide 26 drawing has 5 inches extra, not not in the length
as he says,
but in hull depth, to offset the extra ballast. 'Kesteloo', 'Kasteloo?', very similar!
Sure he can be forgiven as I suspect a lot of this was played back from an
interview I gave on the phone!

Anyway a good read.

Now beginning to pack away
Christmas things here and whilst taking all the batteries out of the talking
bears and snowmen, it reminds me. Have you removed all the batteries
from torches, MOB lights, clocks, radios and the like?? Nothing worse at
the beginning of a season than to find corroded batteries have destroyed your
favourite torch, when you reload the kit aboard in Spring!!

John

Tuesday 1st January 2019!!

Happy New Year and Good
Sailing in 2019 from all the Steering Group of the EOG!

We kick the year off with a
two page spread in the January edition of 'Classic Boat' and a small mention
in PBO.

Managed to get through to the latest new
enrolment, Peter with the Barbican 'Buzzard', as he fortunately left his
mobile phone number, the webmaster spotted that! Welcome letter on the way.

We had a mail in from Barrie with a
'Springtide' by Kenneth Evans and Partners. We have long suspected MG
was that partner and now we have more clues. The Springtide is the same
dimensions as an Eventide to the last inch and pound and one of the directors
of Evans firm was Mr. Wanklin, one of the founders of the old association and
friend of MG. With a little more digging suspect we can add the
'Springtide' and the 'Sea Rover' owners officially, as members!

Mat has given me another update for his
Senior 'Bethem', I will be on that shortly.

Had an interesting mail from Richard with
the Eventide 'Cameroon', the gaff rigged boat with Lee Helm!! He is
about to move the mast aft and increase the mainsail size, to see if that
works! Hope to hear later how he gets on.

Heard from a few who agree with my comments
about PBO loosing its way. Written to them expressing my views, wonder if I
will get a response?

Off out for a walk on the beach at Bradwell
this afternoon, to blow away those cobwebs, Hello 2019!